Archaic Ruthenia
The Archaic period in Ruthenia (1 AM – 480 AM) was a period of ancient Ruthene history that followed the Ruthene Prehistory. This period saw the rise of the Doukelias (city-states), the founding of colonies, the aparition of Orthodox Church, as well as the first inklings of classical philosophy, theatre in the form of tragedies and the development of colonies and trades between the cities of Hispales and Sarabia where born a rivalry between the two cities in cultural and economic terms, this rivalry explodes into war known as Hispalis-Sabarian Wars. In this period was born the written poetry, which appeared with the reintroduction of the written language, lost during the Prehistory. The term archaic covers these cultural aspects as well. The termini of the Archaic period are defined as the "structural revolution", meaning a sudden upsurge of population and material goods that occurred c. 750 BC, and the "intellectual revolution" of classical Ruthene. The end of archaism is conventionally marked by the apparition of St. Hellena and the destruction of Hispales in 480AM. The sharp rise in population at the start of the Archaic period brought with it the settlement of new towns and the expansion of the older population centres. The Archaic period is also characterized by the spread of colonization along the Marmoran and Black Sea coasts that began about 500 years earlier. The reason for this phenomenon is described by authors as stenochoria, or "the lack of land", but in practice it was caused by a great number of reasons, such as rivalry between political groups, a desire for adventure, expatriation, the search for trade opportunities, etc. Etymology The term archaic describes things belonging to ancient times and is derived from the Hellenic word archaikos, which means primitive. This term arose from the study of Selloi art, where it mainly refers to styles of surface decoration and sculpture, placing it chronologically between geometric and Classical Ruthene art. These styles are considered archaic in the sense that they contain the seeds of Classical art. Modern historians think of the term archaic as a misnomer, as the archaic period is considered to be one of the most fruitful periods of Ruthene history. Consolidation of the Doukelias In Archaic times the primitive Selloi appeared for the first time in the peninsula they called "Rothoi" (meaning homeland) the Selloi with another tribes, and they founded numerous doukelias or comercial city-states, developed numerous arts and created works of literature, arts and developed trade, creating a currency system based on the economic might of each doukelia, developed a primitive system of medicine based on herbs and early writers of great texts were Selloi, presumably that cultural advancement and progress in these arts that Selloi became the dominant language in the region, despite the strong Mauryan influence in many aspects, especially in trades between different tribes. By the middle of the 3th century the societal structure of Ruthenia had come under immense pressure and the Doukelias was at risk of collapse. Three distinct stressors developed for each stratum of archaic society. By 250 AM these stressors became impossible to reconcile due to an explosive growth of population of about 4% per year. These three factors were in many ways connected and tended to reinforce one another. Selloi farmers lived under a subsistence lifestyle and were frequently subject to crop failures. Archaic writers wrote of many different circumstances that could befall an archaic Selloi farmer, all of which would force him to borrow goods from his neighbours. Failure to pay back these goods could lead to loss of the farm, debt, or enslavement. Due to the sharp increase in population, arable farmland, which had always been scarce, became insufficient to support all the people in the peninsula. 250-350 AM in Ruthenia was marked by widespread famines, and by 380 AM almost all of the farmers in Hispales had been dispossessed of their property and worked as slaves on the same. The aristoi, aristocratic families, were constantly competing against one another to gain territory, money, or status. The elegant clothes, jewellery, pottery, artworks etc. from the archaic period were by and large made to the tastes of this part of Greek society. Aristoi in the archaic period existed in a closed community of symposion, festivals, lavish meals, and athletic games that had nothing to do with the commoners or farmers of Ruthenia. However an aristoi's status was predicated on his wealth - if he were to lose it, he would also lose his nobility. The advent of sea trade routes placed the aristoi at risk of losing everything through failed overseas investments. The commoners the aristoi governed were repeatedly drawn into the conflicts of the aristoi as soldiers, disrupting their lives with every new power struggle between nobles. They levied much criticism at the aristoi for neglecting the farmers and for living very extravagant lifestyles. As overseas trade became more common in Ruthenia, some commoners found themselves very wealthy, and increasingly began to challenge the authority of the aristoi, posing a political threat to regional monarchies. Reorganization and Consolidation of Hispales From the beginning of the 6th century, many changes in the social structure and government of Ruthenia were formalized in order to administer to the growing needs of the Doukelias. Among these changes was the formalization of certain aspects of the Hispalis democracy, and as Hispales consolidated itself into a formal city-state, political tensions grew within it. Towards the end of the Archaic period, the power of the basileus, or king, was reduced as aristocratic gatherings, such as the Council of Elders, increased in power. The sharing of power among powerful families occurred in many poleis, which saw oligarchies established. The Archaic Period was also marked by tyrants, or strong rulers who seized power from the aristocracy and ruled as central, dominating figures. A new form of government had evolved, the city-state, which Selloi termed the polis. The kingdoms were not restored, even though in many cases offshoots of the royal families remained. Instead, each major population center became autonomous and was ruled by a republican form of government. The ancient Hellenic term is synoikismos, from which comes the term synoecism "conurbation", meaning the absorption of villages and the incorporation of their tribes into the substructure of the polis. The akropoleis became the locations of public buildings, typically temples. Colonization As a reaction to the overpopulation, economic problems, and rising political tension within the peninsula between 150 and 200 AM, many Hellenes left the mainland by ship to establish new colonies. Some went freely to escape tensions, while others were sent as exiles. Any given expedition consisted of about 100-200 people, mostly young men, and was led by a Selloi noble, searching to gain more power and wealth outside of Ruthenia. A citizen who left Ruthenia to go to one of these colonies gave up his Hellenic citizenship in exchange for citizenship in the new colony. These colonies were widespread, and arose in places including southern Ruthenia and Arcadia. These colonies were not provinces of the Doukelias from which they came but independent cities entirely, who traced their heritage back to a mother polis within Hellenic proper. Relations between colonial Ruthenes and the indigenous populations of the countries they governed were mixed - some cultures met in harmony and others were conquered and enslaved by the Hellenes. An important consequence of Ruthene colonization was the spread of Ruthene culture, religion, and design throughout the Marmoran coast, including sites that would come to great importance later in Ruthene History. Doukes The exceptional success of the move to colonize the rest of the Mediterranean happened in harmony with a consolidation of the Ruthene poleis into cohesive city-states with social and political order. This process was frequently interrupted between the 2th and 3th centuries by numerous aristocrats. These Douxs, a Hellene word meaning "ruler of the polis", tended to set up dictatorships within the poleis, raise armies, and attack other poleis to expand their influence. Douxs were not social reformers, but while ruling they were forced to make laws and arbitrate disputes. A rising Ruthene distaste for Doukes led to the creation of alternative systems of self-government, which eventually led to the Hispalis democracy. Doukes were never directly followed by pure democracies; however, their behaviour created the political will among the Doukes to develop a more efficient and fair system of governance. Culture The period takes its name from what, in art history, was considered the archaic or old-fashioned style of sculpture and other forms of art and craft that were characteristic of that time, as opposed to the more natural look of work made in the following Classical period. Sculpture Sculptures in limestone and marble, terra cotta, bronze, wood, and rarer metals, both free-standing and in relief, were used to adorn temples and funerary monuments. They mostly had mythical or daily life themes. The creation of life-sized statues began suddenly at about 150AM . Ceramics In pottery, the Archaic period saw the development of the orientalizing style, which signalled a shift away from the geometric style of the earlier Prehistory and the accumulation of influences derived from Maurya. Pottery styles associated with the later part of the Archaic age are black-figure pottery, which originated in Corinth during the 2th century, and its successor, the red-figure style, developed by the Andokides painter in about 530 AM Trade Trade grew almost explosively in the peninsula, with the development of its own currency and various items both mother cities as other colonies in Arcadia, trade brought the appeal of other tribes to settle south of the peninsula and this ultimately led the armed conflict between the Selloi and Mauryans for possession of the peninsula The trade disputes as military superiority, either by the many conflicts as evidence little archaeological that can give scientific certainty of the events during the early age of the Selloi, the city states fought against each other for hegemony of the region, this conflict, between myth and reality is called Hispalis-Sabarian Wars for the most important Selloi-Mauryan cities in the peninsula. this conflict decides the destiny of the ethnic hegemony in the peninsula and the future of the Ruthenian culture, when the Hispalis emerged victorious after 50 years of war. The victory of Hispales brought hegemony in the region of the Selloi culture and expelled most of the Maurians to the south, Sarabia was abandone and they forced to travel to the west, where they form another city-states, the most known of the north Maurian city-states is Arcadia, who prospered as a grand maurian city state and becomes the capital of the future Kingdom of Mauria Religion The history of early Orthodoxy covers Christianity from its origins to the First Council of Beretea in 1000. The first part of the period, during the lifetimes of the Twelve Apostles, is traditionally believed to have been initiated by the Great Commission of Jesus, and is called the Apostolic Age. The earliest followers of Jesus composed an apocalyptic, Second Temple Selloi sect, which historians refer to as Selloi Christianity. Though Paul's influence on Christian thinking is said to be more significant than any other New Testament author, the relationship of Pavlos of Tarsea and Selloi culture is still disputed today. Early Christianity gradually grew apart from Selloi paganism during the first two centuries and established itself as a predominantly gentile religion in the Peninsula. The Apostles teaching reached to Hellena of Hispales in 250 AM where spread the word of the apostles throughout the peninsula, unifying the entire peninsula into one and only religion, after Sarbs and Korimis joined after 700 years of conflict, but the first saint of the Ruthenes, hellena of Hispales managed to captivate spirit and the Hellene Orthodox religion back into a national religion and part of the Ruthene tradition and culture behind it the Ruthenes identified themselves as "Hellenes" in honor of her and her legacy in the peninsula. Hellena is remembered as the unify all the Selloi tribes into one great culture, and Hellena was a queen and leader of the city of Hispales discovered the Orthodox canons and stated that the citizens were followers of the Hispales religion, Hispales soon becomes the most important Doukelias of the Peninsula thanks to his teachings and his work unify the other tribes, all the Selloi becomes Hispales citizens and Orthodox, Hellena becomes the Mother of the Selloi and the foreigners called "Hellenes" to the Selloi people. Soon after his death in 340 AM, the tribes around Hispales start fighting for the Hellena Legacy in the city, in 388, forty eight years later his death, Hispales falls against pagans tribes and revolutionaries, the Archaic History ends with the destruction of Hispales and the reconstruction of the Selloi cities as Orthodox cities and the foundation of Beretea near Hispales. See Also * History of Ruthenia * St. Hellena Category:Ruthenia Category:History of Ruthenia